Northern youth suicide rate raises alarms
Planning is underway for a five-day workshop to help change some astounding statistics about suicide in northeastern Ontario.
The Suicide Safer Network and community partners are hosting a five-day workshop next week called Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).
It's training for trainers across the region to share intervention skills to help people with thoughts of suicide in communities across our region.
“What the stats show is that northern Ontario suicide rates are triple the provincial average,” said Mark Fraser, of the Suicide Safer Network.
“Every death by suicide affects 7-10 people, so we understand now how one death by suicide has a ripple effect across communities.”
Micheline Lavallee, also of the Suicide Safer Network, said it’s a discussion that we need to have to prevent further tragedy.
“We need people to start talking honestly and openly about suicide in order to be able to save lives,” Lavallee said.
“At the moment, we probably have five per cent of our population that is in pain they are suffering and they feel that they can't talk to anybody about their thoughts of suicide.”
In all, 24 people will take part in the five-day workshop to become trainers. The training has not been offered in northeastern Ontario since 2013.
“The last three days they learn how to actually pathways to assisting life, which is a model that is worldwide renowned as a suicide intervention,” Lavallee said.
“Equip people with the skills necessary in order to have conversations about suicide and to also intervene when people are affected by suicide or have suicidal ideations,” Fraser added.
Officials said most participants are from cities and rural and Indigenous communities across the northeast. The goal is to have them go back to their respective areas and help people become more confident in intervening when someone has thoughts of suicide.
More information about training opportunities in the northeast can be found here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.